"I Don't Bloody Believe It"

Well today was a rinse and repeat as far as the weather went, foggy, cold and windy. Not so much as a single glimpse of the sun, you know, that round yellow thing in the sky that comes to the UK for a fleeting visit every now and then.

Ben and Greg were walked, three times so far. Greg is fine he is tall enough to avoid the wet grass, Ben has had 3 different coats on today, they help to stop him looking like a wet rug. They are all draped around drying off, dare I say it, ready for tomorrow.

I tootled off to see the Occ Health Nurse, now she has been with us for more than 5 years. I realised today that what she knows about the day to day work in the factory could be written on a pin, the pointy end!

She is of the opinion that there is a job that only involves paperwork and a "bit of filing" and that I should be able to sit, stand or wander around as the need arises. She can not imagine why there isn't a hulk of a man to do all the heavy lifting and moving. She finds it incredible that I have to swing 300Kg through the air on a hoist. 

The mind boggles, well it would if it wasn't in a state of shock. She says that a job to her specification will be offered to me by Friday, I will not hold my breath.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. 2 quilt blocks, 12 1/2" unfinished done and ready to go off to the US.

2. My savings challenge account is opened with a £50 deposit.

3. Ben is snuggled up beside me snoring gently.

4. A long chatty phone call from Francesca this lunch time.

5. A tutorial on different ideas for sashing quilt blocks from The Missouri Quilt Co has inspired me.

It is the little things that make my day, someone holding the door open. A cheery "good morning" from a stranger. A shop assistant who knows her stock, and is not afraid to say "I am so sorry but we do not have that today" rather than waste 20 minutes looking in vain. That is how long 3 of us stood in a shop while the assistant searched for an item, only to be told that the item was listed next to the Till as out of stock.

Courtesy, kindness and politeness cost nothing and brighten up the day. I read a blog post recently, one that I usually enjoy. Most of the post was spent putting people down because of what they did to improve their lot. It was a bit of a back stabber.
 I picked up on several of the bloggers referred to and it made me uncomfortable.
I am sure that I was in there, fine, I do not preach that my way is THE way. I read a mixture of blog types and don't have to agree with everything that I read. BUT it is not my place to agree or otherwise. I write my blog my way and those who don't like it can do the other. And I mean that most sincerely folks. Sometimes I feel that I am being encouraged to behave in a particular way whether I need to or not.

I do not need to live on £2 a day, I do mostly. I do not have debt to pay off, I never got into debt. My Grannies mantra was " Never a lender or a borrower be" I have seen her make up a food parcel for someone who asked to borrow money, and it was always a gift. I remember my uncle asking to borrow a fiver. Her response was to give him the money and she told him not to give it back but to keep it safe till he needed to "borrow it next time"

I don't have to buy RTC food, I do as I find it hard to miss a bargain. But I will happily cook 20p a Kilo parsnips and serve alongside a Ribeye Beef Roast.

Live and let live, If you can not find something pleasant to say then keep it buttoned and go and have a cold shower. I left a snippy comment but it wasn't published, hmmm am I surprised, is the Pope Catholic, Does the Bear ..... go in the woods? I have never managed to fathom out what pleasure can be got from setting out to hurt deliberately.

enough already, soap box put away.

              TTFN                                       Pam

The Race is ON.

I have decided to jump the gun on my £1500 in 2014 challenge and start today. My Co op Divi has been added to my balance, although it is less than last year, my total stands at £46.74. That sum will be rounded up to £50 and used as the first deposit into the challenge account. I am no financial wizard so I will be trawling around to find the best place to open this. All suggestions gratefully received.
 On the topic of receiving, the mince pies met with a very warm welcome, as did the sausage rolls.

My spend today was £2.35 on the greengrocer market stall, I will buy milk during the week which will take my purchases up to £3.35 for the week. Do a little happy dance....... 

If I could I would add one of those slidey things to the side to show my savings, instead I will just put it in the post every time I make a deposit.
 This is a short post as when I had the room cleared ready to go I  discovered a patch of skirting board with about as much substance as a warm marshmallow. 
At the beginning of last winter the down pipe came away from the wall, there was some water ingress but the pipe was put back and plaster dried out and was painted. I now realise that the Bodger/Idle Bugger who did the work skimped on it. The skirting has been slowly rotting away and needs to be replaced, I know a man who can BUT not till after The New Year. My paint and brushes have been returned to the Glory Hole cupboard under the stairs for a month or so. RATS RATS and RATS again.
And there's more.
I have intended all along to start in Fran's room but there is too much of her stuff in there so I started in the lounge.  I wanted to move the furniture around, to make more use of the natural light, and the sofa is too big for where I want it, more rats. However it is there where I want it and it is staying put until I source a replacement on Lobay or somewhere similar. I will not be rushing off to "Pile it High sell it NOW" furniture shop to get a new sofa for Christmas in the permanent sale. My room is nearly in order, my recently emptied built in cupboards have been stocked with all the sewing clutter essentials and I have my machine table set up under the window, lots of natural light. My cutting table, drop leaf, is on the opposite wall and there is room for my ironing board as well.


Reasons to be grateful.

1. The Challenge is on with a good start.

2. I found so many "lost" things as I cleared the room to decorate.

3. I found my thimble, it was my Grannies so I am VERY grateful.

4. My house suddenly appears bigger.

5. I now have a few weeks to play with my sewing.

In a way this has been a blessing, there are several sewing finishes that can happen next week, they were going to be put on hold till January, my 3 quilts can be basted and quilted and my aprons can be cut and made. I also would like to make some more cushion covers. I am gonna be busy busy busy, while my hands are guiding fabric through Little Gem they can not be guiding chocolate into my mouth so it is win win.

Tea then walking Ben with Greg, his new BFF, Greg is a black and white Border Collie and Ben runs like a steam train to keep up with him, good for both of them.

                          TTFN                                    Pam

Four Down, One to Go.

Firstly a big welcome to a new follower, Hazel, I hope you enjoy your visits.
Secondly I have made a start on my challenge, a pattern has been drawn up this morning for aprons, this is for someone I know who is not very tall but quite round, she describes herself as a Little Norfolk Dumpling. She is not hugely fat but when you are only 5ft any size bigger than Posh Spice looks big. most aprons are too long for her so she folds them at the waist which means she loses the pocket and the top flops around. She wants 5 in the new year, not before as she doesn't plan on washing up over Christmas, clever girl.

I found a new blog to read from a comment on yesterdays post and will be going back later armed with a mug of coffee and maybe something " naughty but nice". I will set my timer so I don't outstay my welcome.

I took photos of my CS buys but the colour is not too good, it has been a grey day.

The colours are too dark, the background is much lighter, if it is brighter tomorrow I will try again.

This is better, I see lots of use in this double duvet cover, it is poly cotton but will back some of my vintage fabrics.

I have had my 4th visit to Miss Whiplash, 1 left to do in 2 weeks time, she is very good and is working out a muscle strengthening exercise routine for me. My movement range is much improved although I still have stiffness and the aches and pins that go with it.

Tomorrow I will be washing paintwork down ready for painting Friday. I have emptied my linen cupboard, now I just need to weed all the unwanted things out. How did I end up with so much, I'll tell you how. I have a friend who changes her colour scheme when the wind changes and passes her cast offs to me. She buys towel sets and only uses half of them, I get the rest. I have told her that she has more money than sense, her reply is that she can afford it and is keeping people in employment.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A good friend with a generous streak.

2. A warm glow from my new stretching routine.

3. Ben is still clean and sweet smelling.

4. A pattern won on a giveaway I had forgotten about.

5. A surprise phone call from an old work mate.

I have a simple dinner planned, jacket potato, and salad, I will put a little blue brie in the potato, I got some less than half price Cambozola and it is portioned up and in the freezer. Sometime in the next few days my Co op dividend will be added, I will have no problem spending it and the money equivalent will go to my challenge.

I feel the need for tea so it is                       TTFN            Pam                    

One Step Beyond

Can I make it through the night week I mean. I had a shufti round my pockets, bags, shopping bags and all the places where I might find some cash lurking, and .....................wait for it ................................came up with this.

Not very impressive, but tidy it up and see what happens.

£9.35, just 65p shy of my challenge sum. So I ask myself can I do the week on this "Free" money, I will stretch a point and say that as this is lost and found money it is free and should not count. If you disagree speak up and I will think about it.

A look in the fridge and I still have nearly half of this weeks cheese plus next weeks. There is half the bag of potatoes left, and I have 9 eggs.

There are enough veg in the garden and freezer for the week and the trees are dripping with fruit. Then there are the raspberries and blackberries. 

I will have to buy milk but as I have not used all this weeks I will be decanting it into smaller containers and freezing it.

I will also buy a bag of plain flour, celery, peppers and cucumber.

If I am fortunate I could do this on £5.00, how cool would that be.

At this point I should tell you that I am an over achiever but we are not starving, indeed I think that we live very well indeed.

Tonight we are having salad with tuna, sardines, and mackerel fillets. Saturday will be Sausage, egg and chips, naughty but nice. Sunday we are having Roast Duck, roast veg, Yorkshire Pudding ( I know it does not go but we love it) and I will make a gravy with some port, orange and red currant jelly, almost a Cumberland Sauce.

The duck was bought last year using my Vouchers from Mr T that I doubled up. This is partly why my freezer is so well stocked.

On the subject of food this was my dinner last night.

I have to say that it was delicious, the herbs from the garden gave it zing and my cherry toms are as sweet as honey with just a touch of acidity to balance. I used the dressing from the tin with a splash of balsamic and a grind of black pepper.

Francesca had Lamb hot pot and I put 3 in the freezer for her packed lunches. The bones have been boiled up and the resulting stock frozen, now Ben will enjoy the bones.

Not bad if I say so myself.

I have been shopping and spent £6.80, £2.00 went on milk for the week and the rest on this haul.

Just look at the size of that cauli, it weighs 2.8Kg and the cabbage weighs 2.4Kg, here it is next to a tin of beans for scale. I bought 3 large potatoes and one night we will have them cooked in their skins and topped with veg roasted in garlicky oil on a bed of salad, I do have some from last week but they are not big enough to bake.

We are looking forward to a feast week full of vegetables and small amounts of  the hoarded meats from the freezer. I was planning to use veg from the freezer to top up the garden offerings but had a change of plan when I saw what the market had to offer. This just means that next weekend I will not have go into town on the Friday. 

We are going to visit Michael,s Dad and Step mum on Saturday and whatever I need I will pick up at Mr T's on the way home.

I went out this morning with £9.35 in my pocket and have got £2.87 left, all I need to buy is a bag of plain flour. I will get this in Asda tomorrow as I have to go into Wisbech, I think it will be around 40p. so will still have over £2.00 for odds and ends. I did get 2 free bags of salad leaves at work last night and they will both be used before they have a chance to wilt beyond use.

If anyone thinks that I am being a little OTT about this personal challenge, please comment, I will not change my mind but am interested in others opinions. I thrive on challenge and intend to pursue this to the end, which will be sweet not bitter.

I should point out that any household purchases are not included in this and I will need a top up of washing up liquid and loo rolls in a couple of weeks. I make my own laundry "gloop" and white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and soda crystals make most of my cleaning products.

 BTW the white vinegar stripped every scrap of limescale out of the shower head and all four bathroom taps for around 15p.

 I do not use fabric softener a good blow on the line keeps them soft and I use tea tree oil in the "gloop" to make them smell fresh.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A 3 day weekend, just what the doctor ordered.

2. 15 minutes chatting in town with an old work colleague and plans to meet up in 2 weeks.

3. A load of laundry, done and hung out by Michael. 

4. Sunshine filtering through the leaves on my walk with Ben, a delight to lift the spirits.

5. Overnight rain keeping my flowers looking and smelling good.

In fact the sun is so warm that I am going to finish my tea and take Ben out for a bonus walk while I can.

On that note it is time to say             TTFN                Pam

PS my fabric win arrived this morning, I will show and tell tomorrow.